[hr][center][h3]Neir - Slums Guard Station[/h3]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/JhorTIT.png[/img]
《 Level 3 Panic 》
[@ERode][@TheMushroomLord][@PKMNB0Y][/center][hr]
[quote]"You said that it knew biomancy, right? Is there any chance that someone else might know about that fact? Slimes knowing magic is rare enough, but one that could communicate on top of that..."[/quote]

"Unless Cassius spilled the beans before me, no!" Connor jittered up and down. "I mean, unless, maybe...I dunno, would people want to listen to us with something like, some kind of scrying magic? Do you guys have...uh...surveillance systems, of any kind?" He suddenly looked up and around as if expecting to see a camera or drone trained on him. "But, they h-haven't really used their magic in any kind of, of flashy way! And you're basically the only other person any of us have willingly talked to since we got here!"

He looked around the cabin one more time, before deciding to take the tarp that had once hidden the slime--they might need something to carry his friend in when they found them. He found the balled up, shitty cloak he had left behind as well, and carefully nudged it into the center of the tarp with his foot before wrapping it all up in a bundle that, thankfully, blocked the worst of the smell. Putting the brown-bagged sandwich into his pocket, he followed after the adventurer.

Meira continued her attempts to seek out the missing slime, and the two searched high and low, making multiple loops around the slums. Connor had no indication thus far that whoever had taken the slime would stay within the area--but, why would anyone else be passing through the slums if they didn't have to be there? To his mind, it only make sense that another member of the bottom-feeder neighborhood would have been in the right place at the right time to find the slime. Maybe they wanted to use it for garbage disposal or something? Meira had said that areas inhabited by slimes were apparently kept clean, which made sense considering what he'd seen of his friend's digestive abilities.

But nothing turned up, and no one else proved of any use to them. Connor grew more and more concerned--and then, because he could not stand being helpless, and because he wasn't familiar with this level of emotion, and had no idea how to deal with it, he felt himself starting to dissassociate. Everything was hopeless. Everything was pointless. He'd failed to protect a friend--he wasn't any kind of hero in an isekai world.

He was just a loser, like he'd always been.

It was getting too dark to continue the search. Dejectedly, he plodded behind the cat girl when she suggested lodging at the guardhouse for the night. Shoulders slumped, head down, the twenty-two year old grown man made quiet little pathetic sounds as tears slowly managed to find their way down the crease of his nose.

Then the inside of his head dinged.

Several messages at once--could these things lag? Could they have "connectivity issues?" No, more than likely the slime was in a hurry--sending one thought at a time because they didn't know if they'd have time to finish the next one. As he read each snippet, his breath started to catch faster.

[i]I've already told Meira the slime's got abnormal magic--she's been dealing with me and Cassius all day, maybe she's already figured out that we're otherworlders? Would it really be that much more of a risk to tell her about the message system? For all I know, maybe it's a generic QOL-type magic anyone here can do![/i] Whenever he'd questioned her at the restaurant, however, the catgirl hadn't come across as...especially knowledgable. Maybe...maybe she would just assume it was a magic spell she hadn't heard of before? Maybe he could pass it off as like, a class skill for a Monster Tamer?

[quote=CONTACT: Slime]
[code]Just hold on, we're trying to find you! It looks like Meira, the adventurer, is going to hold off because we can't see in the dark--so much for her being half freaking cat.

Even if you could move well, there's probably not much point in struggling unless they try to hurt you! What if you...tried to be more like a plant cell, than an amoeba? Use matrix layers to make a harder cell wall?[/code][/quote]

Then, there was the content of the messages themselves. The slime had indeed been captured, by either a child or some smaller race! Instantly Connor's depression turned into anger. Whoever had kidnapped his friend deserved to have the [i]shit[/i] beaten out of them! If it was some stupid kid, why the hell were they playing with a monster they didn't know?! Where were their parents--oh, right, slums, so it was probably some crack baby street urchin who didn't know any better! Or, if it was some kind of halfling, goblin, or gnome--!

[i]Focus, Connor![/i] He actually had a lead now! 

[quote=CONTACT: Slime]
[code]Look, it might sound bad to say this, but, if they're small enough, and it's only them and you in that location...Do you think maybe it'd be safest to just kill them?

If you can't engulf their whole head while they sleep, maybe try choking them, suffocating them, or...you know?[/code][/quote]

He [i]wasn't[/i] a bad person, he kept telling himself. His friend was in danger! It only made sense to eliminate a threat!

But, if the slime had been taken by someone smaller than the average human...Crawlspaces. Sewer pipes. Attics. Maybe a wooden crate of some kind, or a garbage dumpster. Those would probably be the spaces a small, homeless person or an orphan would be able to hide, where bigger people or enemies wouldn't be able to get to them easily. Such small spaces, however, likely meant they would have to be careful with something like a cooking fire, or too much waste and refuse, because the smoke or fumes and filth would be too much for them. Some of those kinds of spaces would also mean that he and Meira would need to look higher or lower than they had been so far--

[i]Ah! That's it! I can just suggest places we haven't looked yet--she doesn't have to know that I'm going off a description of the perp![/i]

By the time he had thought all of this out, and started trying to make plans within his plans--over thinking and over analyzing to the point of self-paralysis, as he always did--they were back in the guard station's infirmary, watching a cleric-classed person heal Cassius.

"H-hey, M-meira, um," he began, leaning towards the cat girl in a conspiring manner, "It just occurred to me--does this place have a sewer under the streets? Or, um, could there be crawlspaces under the shanties? Maybe attics on top? Small, hard to get to but easy to hide in spaces? Um...M-Maybe "S" managed to get somewhere like that, or maybe whoever grabbed them was, I dunno, smaller or more nimble than we are? Like...a kid, or a gnome?"
[hr][hr]
[hider=CONNOR'S INVENTORY][list][*]Dusty Tarp
[*]Shitty Cloak (wrapped in Dusty Tarp)
[*]Brown Bagged Sandwich (in pocket)
[*]Knife Bandolier
[*]Caliboard, the Holy 2x4[/list][/hider]